
Southern California CIO Community
Executive Summit
May 20, 2025 | Marriott Long Beach Downtown
May 20, 2025
Marriott Long Beach Downtown
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with Southern California's top CIOs to tackle shared business challenges and critical priorities facing your role today. Participate in this one-day, local program with peer-driven topics and interactive discussions with your true C-level peers.
Join your peers to discuss the most critical issues impacting CIOs today:
Collaborating for Co-Ownership to Drive Digital Innovation
Empowering Business Technologists
Focusing on Architecture and Innovation
Southern California CIO Governing Body
The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CIOs, For CIOs®.
Governing Body Co-Chairs

Allen Fazio
Houlihan Lokey
Chief Information Officer

Chad Hamilton
Fremantle
VP, Technology

Kelly Hamilton
Sony Pictures Entertainment
CIO

Greg Moore
KB Home
VP & CIO

Anthony Moses
Yamaha Motor Finance Corporation
Global Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer and CIO

Thomas Phelps
Laserfiche
Executive Chair and Laserfiche CIO

Anand Radhakrishnan
KIND
Chief Information Officer
What to Expect
Agenda
8:00am - 8:30am Registration & Breakfast
8:30am - 9:15am Keynote
Disruption Proof — High-Performing Teams that Conquer Change

Dr. Vijay Pendakur
Leadership & Team Culture Strategy Advisor
Guest Speaker
In today’s fast-moving tech and security landscapes, disruption is inevitable—but it doesn’t have to derail your team’s performance. In this high-energy, 30-minute keynote, Dr. Vijay Pendakur will explore why disruption often leads teams to get stuck and how this stagnation threatens business success. Vijay will share his Alchemy of Talent model and explain how leaders can increase productivity and efficiency on their teams, even when it feels like we’re working in an endless earthquake!
Attendees will learn:
- Why disruption can lead to stuck teams and how to avoid it
- The critical impact of stuck teams on business performance and results
- How to make your teams more resilient, adaptable, and willing to learn from failure
This keynote offers actionable strategies and real-world insights to help teams navigate change, unlock innovation, and perform at their best when it matters most.
9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
Pave a Path for AI Innovation
Hosted by OutSystems

Miguel Almeida
VP of Customer Success
OutSystems

Howard Miller
CIO
UCLA Anderson School of Management
Before exploring the possibilities of AI, organizations must first tackle foundational issues such as technical debt, an aging workforce, and legacy systems. Overcoming these challenges is the key to paving the way for AI innovation and leveraging future new technologies for maximum business benefit without adding risk.
Join this fireside chat to discuss:
- Identifying and resolving technical debt and legacy infrastructure that limit AI opportunities
- Preparing for aging workforces to ensure smooth transitions and operational continuity
- Addressing other existing challenges before diving into AI development
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Establishing Cyber Resilience Across the Cloud
Hosted by Rubrik

Jason Cook
Field CTO Americas
Rubrik

Jon Silvertooth
Vice President, Information Technology (CIO)
California Pizza Kitchen
In an era where users are ubiquitous and digital operations sit in the cloud and beyond, it’s key to move beyond a foundational security approach and focus on achieving cyber resilience. The task at hand involves navigating complexity and upholding visibility and control to ensure uninterrupted operation despite cyber threats.
Join this session to explore:
- Enhancing security and cost-effectiveness across diverse cloud environments
- Leveraging AI innovations while addressing global regulatory and data privacy standards
- Sharing best practices for implementing effective cloud operations across a global footprint
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Securing a Modern Data Governance Program

Alvin Joseph
OPS Vice President and CIO
Veritiv

Feroz Merchhiya
CIO
City of Santa Monica, CA
Establishing a secure governance program that successfully aligns with business priorities is paramount. As data becomes increasingly available across multiple cloud environments, it's more important now than ever to preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information used in business processes, applications, and technology. Security leaders must establish a secure, modern framework that protects data throughout its lifecycle.
Join this session to discuss:
- How to align data strategy with security objectives
- Strategies to ensure availability, integrity and confidentiality in data while mitigating risks
- The importance of complying with data-focused regulations while creating value from a data governance program
10:25am - 11:10am Networking Break
10:35am - 11:00am Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Gartner C-level Communities' Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.
11:10am - 11:55am Breakout Session
From Support to Strategy — IT as a Business Driver

Mohandoss Tychicus
CIO
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
As the landscape of IT within organizations transforms, it is imperative for CIOs to establish a seamless connection between IT strategies and the overarching business goals and priorities.
Join this session to discuss:
- Harmonizing IT strategies with the core objectives and goals of the business
- Elevating IT's role as a pivotal driver of business value
- Creating teams that are agents of change rather than the providers of products
11:10am - 11:55am Breakout Session
Building a Strategy for an AI-First Business
Hosted by Box

Ravi Malick
SVP & Global CIO
Box
The future of business is rapidly evolving — a future where AI agents are part of the workforce, almost any process or workflow can be automated, and customers expect better, more intelligent experiences across their unstructured data. Whether that means automating loans or onboarding employees faster, applying intelligence to your unstructured data can be a pathway to stay ahead of the competition.
Join this interactive session to explore:
- Practical approaches to building an unstructured data strategy
- Robust content workflows and use cases including agentic AI
- Leadership lessons for organizing and upskilling the workforce
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
The Future of ERP – Shifting the IT Operating Model
Hosted by Rimini Street

Scott Hays
Sr. Director, Portfolio Marketing
Rimini Street

Allen Fazio
Chief Information Officer
Houlihan Lokey

Anthony Moses
Global Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer and CIO
Yamaha Motor Finance Corporation
AI, hyperautomation, and unified user experiences are reshaping how we work and compete. Are these transformations valuable, necessary, or feasible? Engage with peers to explore strategies for funding and accelerating prioritized transformations while maximizing returns on existing software investments.
Join this session to discuss:
- Modernizing applications through composable and adaptive ERP strategies
- Building digital agility to adapt to evolving business needs and minimize disruptions
- Enhancing IT systems to improve user experiences and boost operational efficiency
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
Turning AI Experimentation into Business Value
Hosted by Dynatrace

Markie Duby
Director, Solutions Engineering, Western Region
Dynatrace

Peter Loo
CIO
Los Angeles County, CA

Kristine Sheu
SVP, Chief Technology Officer
Cathay Bank
Data driven approaches are the standard now when making decisions for the enterprise. With the increased importance and acceleration of AI projects, which strategies and KPIs can we leverage to bridge the gap between innovation and impact and ensure our AI projects deliver measurable business value?
Join this boardroom session to explore:
- AI Observability - best practices for monitoring, debugging, and improving AI deployments
- Business-Centric KPIs - identifying and tracking the right metrics to evaluate ROI and business impact of AI workloads
- Operationalizing AI - strategies to transition from successful pilots to scalable, value-generating AI systems
11:55am - 12:30pm Lunch Service
Apply to Participate
Apply to participate in the Southern California CIO Community Executive Summit.
Gartner facilitates exclusive, C-level communities by personally qualifying and understanding the priorities, challenges and interests of each member.
Our selective approach maintains the high quality of the network and ensures top-level discussions with peers from the world’s leading organizations.
Each application will be reviewed, and once your participation is confirmed, you will have access to year-round community programs.
Location
Venue & Accommodation
Marriott Long Beach DowntownParking:
Parking Garage Onsite : Overnight: $30, Day Rate: $25
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Marriott Long Beach Downtown at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling (562) 437-5900. Please mention Southern California Exeuctive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.
Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $207 USD (plus tax) is April 28, 2025.
Community Program Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.